Falling In Love It's Not That Fun
by watchitstark
Summary: Minerva and Hermione love each other, but both are too blind to see how the other feels. So while their friends try to push them together, and they slowly get closer every tea time, what could happen? HG/MM
1. Chapter 1

I rushed to Transfiguration, I wanted to be early and talk to Minerva. I always thought of her as Minerva in my head even though she was actually Professor McGonagall. I had come back after the war just because I wanted to see her really, I could have taken my NEWTS at the beginning of the year. I had said it was because I wanted to graduate with everyone else. Harry, Ginny and McGonagall thought there was something, or someone else, that was making me stay. They were right of course but they still thought I was straight so I couldn't exactly go ahead and tell them that I loved McGonagall. Especially as me and Ron are still going out but I was preparing to break it off, I'd seen him eyeing up Lavender and my heart obviously wasn't in it. I got to Transfiguration and chucked my bag onto the desk in the middle, right at the front, with a loud clunk and rolled my shoulder, that bag sure was heavy! Maybe I should carry less books with me, I mused.

"Maybe you should carry fewer books around with you Hermione." A familiar voice suggested. I grinned and turned to face Minerva, who had been sat at her desk the whole time.

"Hmmm… I suppose I could do that…" I thought for a second and then slapped myself round the head. "I can't believe I didn't think of this before!" I exclaimed and pulled out my wand, casting a featherweight Charm on my bag, which made it really light.

"How many books do you have in there?" She asked me.

"My four that I need for classes today and about five extras." I said, shuffling through it. Minerva looked shocked.

"How do you fit them all in?" She asked.

"I just shrink them, but that doesn't affect the weight very much so I suppose I should of thought about it." I still couldn't believe that I hadn't thought about it.

"I did the same thing when I came here, it took me until the NEWTS actually started and even then it was a Ravenclaw that thought of it." I laughed.

"Sometimes I think that I should have been in Ravenclaw." I said as I walked over and sat on her desk.

"If you were in Ravenclaw it would have been a real shame because you wouldn't be in my house and then I wouldn't have an excuse to invite you over for tea to discuss 'Head Girl Duties'. Also, this house needs some intelligent people, and you did all those things when you were on the run and in both battles at Hogwarts. A Ravenclaw wouldn't have had the guts to do what you did." She said, grabbing my hand where it lay on the desk.

"But Luna did loads of things, like her and Neville restarted the DA last year, and she went to the Department of Mysteries and she fought in both battles." I sighed; when I hadn't got into Ravenclaw I had been really upset.

"Hermione, Luna is clever in a way that forgoes all logic. And yet your grades are higher than hers. You are one of the most talented students to ever pass through the halls of Hogwarts. So don't you get all depressed on me now. No one can ignore the fact that you managed to use a Time Turner until your OWL year and took double the amount of OWLS as everyone else and got O's in almost all of them." She said, mock-sternly.

"Well, yeah. But I still haven't made a name for myself and probably never will because of the fact that I was Harry Potter's accomplice, part of the Golden Trio. But no one will actually know anything about me, actually know my name. I'll get invited to Ministry events just because I'm Harry Potter's friend and a war hero. That's not what I want; I want them to know me because of something that I've achieved. I hate the fame just as much as Harry does but then there's Ron who loves it, he pulls me into the spotlight because it's where he wants to be. He loves the money, the girls and the fact that he'll never be in any of his brothers shadows now, because of all this. He's quite happy to let the girls follow him around. We're not compatible and I don't understand how anyone ever thought we were. Everyone expects us to get married and have a dozen kids and yet I may love him but I'm not _in_ love with him, I love him like a best friend, like Harry, like a brother but not like a boyfriend. It feels wrong when I kiss him, like its incest or something. But I can't break it off because Harry and Ginny always expect us to go on double dates. And then it'll be awkward because it'll be a couple and then us two." I sighed in frustration.

"You two are quite obviously not compatible, sort it out before you two get too far in and you can't undo it. I know that it's a cliché but just do what your heart tells you to." She advised and then the class started to file in so I jumped up and went over to my seat. We had been working on this spell last lesson, so of course I was done, so I just settled down with a book and pretended to read to read when really I was watching Minerva move around the room correcting people's wand movements and pronunciation of the spell. She looked up and I made sure that it looked like I was reading the book and that I wasn't blushing. I felt her gaze on me and I looked up, she was smiling in my direction so I smiled back. She went back to helping Neville and I went back to reading, well, pretending to read.

"Miss Granger could you please stay after lesson?" I smiled at her and finished packing up and then sat back down again. Once everyone else was gone I went and sat on her desk again. "Yes Professor?" I asked.

"Why you were saying earlier, I really think you should break up with him. There's no way that you're going to be happy with him. The longer you string him along the more he's going to want you to do." I shuddered at the idea of what he might want me to do.

"You're right. But I don't know how to break it off. It's going to be so awkward afterwards." I moaned and put my face in my hands.

"Just do it, that's my only advice. I went through quite a few of those kind of relationships and it only got worse the longer I left it."

"Okay, I'm going to go sort this out. I really hope he takes it well." I gave her a slight smile and she squeezed my hand. I slipped off the desk and grabbed my bag, and then headed over to the door.

"Good luck." I turned and nodded, then left the room to go find Ron.

"Hey guys. Ron I need to talk to you." I grabbed his hand and dragged him out of the Common Room and to the first empty classroom I could find, I pulled him in and sat him down on a desk.

"Ron…" I started, "I think we need to split." I said quickly. He looked a little upset but not much.

"I know, we both know that neither of our hearts are properly in this." I smiled and gave him a quick hug. We both went back up to the Common Room and told the others. Ron was snogging Lavender again by the end of the day, so I went to go see Minerva.

"It went well. Ron's already sucking Lavender's face off." I said cheerfully as I bounced into the room and settled onto the sofa in front of the fire. She just laughed and left her marking to come sit next to me.

"He really does have the emotional range of a teaspoon." My eyes widened into saucers, how had she known that I'd said that?

"How do you know I said that all those years ago?" I asked. She laughed at the mix of shock and confusion that had come across my face.

"I have my sources. I know everything that you say or do in the Gryffindor Common Room." No… No… I thought as my brain whirred into motion. I had written my diary in there, and I'd drawn all those pictures of her in my various pads.

"But… You can't see what we write or draw right?"

"No, but sometimes I wish I could. What is it that you sketch and write in all those various notebooks of yours?" She said, obviously fishing for information.

"Nope, not telling what gets put in there. That's my secret. No one but me has ever seen what's written inside those pages." I said, because I couldn't tell her, not while she was still so unattainable.

"And I've noticed that sometimes you just sit there and stare into the fire… Sometimes you cry and sometimes your face is the very image of joy. What is it you think about?" She asked. I blushed, as these were the time when I daydreamed about various situations with her.

"I'm just daydreaming. That's why my emotions change. It's not much really. There's never anything really important that I think about." I shrugged and grabbed the tea that she had summoned while we'd been talking.

"I think that you dream about a certain boy. Because you said you're heart wasn't in the relationship so you must like someone else." She said and then smiled.

"Nope. And even if there was, which there's not, I wouldn't tell you." I said and then took another sip of my tea and tried to look her directly in the eye.

"There is. And you will tell me, eventually." She said and then shrugged.

"I will tell you eventually. But it depends if I still like them then." She would find out when I finally told her. It was planned for graduation and then she could either tell me to stay or I could jump on the train and never see her again. She just sighed, realising that she wasn't going to get any information out of me.

_**A/N: This was going to be a one-shot but I got so into it that it's really long but there's still more.**_

**_Thanks to everyone that's been reading and reviewing Changing Relationships. Just at the moment I have writer's block. And finger cramps. lol :D_**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I am not JK. If so, Ron would have died instead of Fred and Hermione and McGonagall would have fallen in love. :D **

**I love all my reviewers (All three of them) And hope that this is wanted. I'm sorry for the big gaps in between I had writer's block. But I've got a day where my internet's not working so I'm going to try and get loads of writing done. :D**

Falling In Love. It's Not That Fun.

Chapter 2

I watched as Minerva walked up to the Staff Table, giving me a smile as she walked past. I smiled back and then went back to my breakfast. I could feel someone watching me and I looked up and around the House Tables, not thinking that it could be any of the staff, but it was Madam Hooch that was watching me and when I worked it out for the life of me I couldn't fathom why she would. But then, at the end of breakfast she dropped a note on my plate and carried on through the doors. I stared after her and then picked up the note, which read;

_Meet me outside the Entrance Hall doors in a couple of minutes. Don't worry about your Transfiguration lesson with Minnie, I already sorted that out. _

That's… Odd. I thought. But of course I just stayed put for a little while and then headed out the big doors into the grounds. As soon as I was through the door someone grabbed my arm and dragged me through a covered pathway to the broom cupboard and shoved me inside. I was shocked at the size of it and there were benches and everything. We both sat down and I raised an eyebrow.

"You look like Minnie like that. You'd probably make a good teacher one day." She said and I grinned.

"Really? Anyway what are we doing in the broom cupboard and why did you want to talk to me?" I asked.

"Well, you see, I'm worried about Minnie. She seems down, but she looks tons happier when you're around or are mentioned. And you should have seen the way that she almost killed Snape after he had his weekly whinging session about you. I had to restrain her! Well, I didn't but if it had been anyone else that doesn't have as much control as she does then I would have had to restrain her. Snape looked really scared and she hadn't even got out of her seat! I think that's the fastest I've ever seen Snape move! He got out of there sharpish." We both laughed.

"But she get's protective about all her cubs. And maybe she was thinking about the fact that I'm going to get really good NEWT grades." I said shrugging.

"Argh!" She moaned and put her head in her hands. "You two are both so blind! You love each other so why not just go ahead and kiss her?" She asked, exasperated.

"No! She won't, even if she does love me, which she doesn't, then she won't act on it until I graduate. This is why I'm going to tell her just before I get on the train and leave. And she can either let me go or make me stay. So I will let her know, just not yet. I can't live if she stops letting me come over for tea to talk about Transfiguration. And then she'll know and I can't let that happen. Because I know that her knee- jerk reaction will be to reject me. And I wouldn't love her if it was any other way. I just can't stop going to see her, there's no way." I said, upset and overwhelmed, Madam Hooch just looked at me sympathetically and gave me a hug.

"If you ever want to talk to a girl then you can come see me. I know you've got Ginny but she's all loved up with Potter so just come to me." She patted my shoulder and stood up to leave, leaving me in there on my own to give me a moment to sort myself out. Once I was sure that I wasn't going to cry I headed back to the end of Transfiguration, knowing I'd regret it later if I missed even just the last half of it staring at her, she was like a drug and I needed my fix.

I looked at Minerva when I entered and smiled, I moved between tables to the seat that Harry and Ron had saved for me. I knew how to do the spell so I waved my wand, shouting the incantation in my head, and successfully turned Harry's turtle it into a tea cosy. Harry glanced up at me and grinned, he knew I'd done it, even though it was a non-verbal spell. Apparently, so did Professor McGonagall.

"15 points to Gryffindor for performing the spell non-verbally and on first try." I felt a collection of smiles and glares sent my way so I just grinned and sat down, got my book out, and proceeded to watch Minerva as she moved around the room.

"You've got it baaaddddd…" Ginny whispered to me after I glanced up at the Staff Table again, we were sat in the Great Hall and eating dinner.

"I've got what? Dragon Pox?" I asked, wondering what on earth she was going on about.

"For someone, you really, really like someone. And I'm going to make it my mission to find out who. Hmmm…." She thought for a moment and then her eyes lit up, "Let's play twenty questions!" She grinned and pulled out a piece of parchment and labelled it 'Hermione's Crush'. I just sighed and consented, after warning, "No one can see that piece of parchment. No one can know if you do get it." She just hurriedly nodded.

"What colour hair?" She started with.

"Black." She jotted this down.

"What colour eyes?"

"Green."

"Oh my god it's Harry!" Ginny almost screamed and fell off her chair. Everyone in the hall looked over.

"Don't be dense. A) Harry is yours; B) It'd be like, going out with my brother!" I exclaimed. She calmed down and climbed back onto her chair, not looking embarrassed at all at her reaction. Harry and Ron had looked over and Ron asked,

"What's going on?" She looked suspicious.

"I'm playing Twenty Questions to see who Hermione's crush is." Just as she said that Professor McGonagall walked past and tried to peer at the parchment but I quickly snatched it out Ginny's grip, and hid it from Minerva's view.

"I said, don't let anyone see it!" I hissed to Ginny. Minerva covered up her interest by saying,

"Please could you keep it down over here? And falling off your chair is not beneficial to your health." She added to Ginny and strode out the doors. I wondered why she was interested and then got back to the game with Ginny, but a part of me couldn't help but hope, maybe she did like me back.

"Is he older?" She'd started again.

"Yep."

"But that means they've either left school or are a teacher!" Ginny moaned.

"Do I know them?" She asked. I grinned.

"I'm pretty sure you do." I said and sighed, she was never going to get it, she still thought it was a guy!

The game of Twenty Questions turned into random guessing over the next few days. Harry and Ron had caught on and were trying to guess as well. At random intervals they'd shout out names, even if it didn't match all the criteria. Ron was sure it was Krum, even though he had brown hair and brown eyes. We were in Transfiguration and I was 'reading' when Harry suddenly half shouted;

"Oliver!" I just shook my head and went back to my book.

"And what, pray tell, was that all about Miss Granger?" I jumped and saw Minerva stood behind me, and wondered what I should say.

"It's nothing for you to worry about Professor. It won't make any difference if you know or not." I said, and smiled, hoping she was going to drop it. She just raised an eyebrow and went back to helping Neville, and I knew she was going to question me when I went for tea that evening.


	3. Chapter 3: Tea Time!

**Falling In Love. It's Not That Fun****Chapter 3: Tea Time**

_**Hermin22 pointed out that surely Minerva will be feeling the same but this is a completely Hermione-based fanfic. The swapping of POV's on Changing Relationships was annoying me and I'm the writer! Although this is an old fic that I'm reviving, and I would prefer to be writing in 3**__**rd**__** person, I've already started it in 1**__**st**__**, so shall continue in that fashion unless anyone particularly wants me to swap it.**_

I nervously paced along the corridor outside Minerva's room until my watch went off at 8, time to see what Minerva was going to say and if she was going to question me. I knocked on the door and heard Minerva's Scottish brogue ring through the wood;

"Come in." I opened the door and stepped into her spacious living room, glad that we weren't meeting in her office; because it meant that she was finished working. I walked through the room and settled onto her sofa, lying down and waiting for her to start talking, knowing straight away that she was going to question about Transfiguration and what Harry had been talking about. After a few moments Minerva's quill stopped and she got up and came over to me, budging my feet up and sitting down, then taking her boots off and tucking her feet under herself.

"So, why was Potter shouting things out at you?" The side of her lips were lifted slightly; she obviously thought that it was funny that I'd had a boy's name shouted at me.

"Ginny, Harry and Ron are trying to find out who I like, they were playing Twenty Questions with me a few days ago at breakfast, that's the parchment I hid from you, but it just degenerated into shouting guy's names at me, even if they don't fit the criteria." I said with a small smile.

"And what criteria were given?" She asked with a smile.

"Not telling you that, you're far too smart and would guess immediately."I said with a grin and moved my head up to look at her, letting the image of her thinking fill my brain, I'd be sketching that later, I'm sure.

"Mmmm… I doubt that, although I do have extensive knowledge of every student to pass through here, especially of the Gryffindors." I almost slipped up then and told her that the person hadn't ever been her student.

"Well they are/have been in Gryffindor." I said with a grin, making sure not to slip up.

"So you're not even going to tell me if they're a former student, or if they still go are you?"

"No way, like you said, you have extensive knowledge. And it's fairly obvious what my type is, intelligent and mature."

"I have to say that I don't know many Gryffindors like that." She said with a smile. I just laughed and stretched my legs out, putting them in her lap. She raised her eyebrows; it was the furthest I'd dared to push our friendship. I just laughed at her expression. "What? It's not like that smell or anything," I wiggled a foot and brang it close to her chin, "See?" She just laughed and pushed it down.

"No, I suppose not. But I still don't agree with you putting your appendages in my lap." She said mock sternly, I could tell that she was joking by the small curve of her lips.

"Well you may as well get used to them because I'm very comfortable and am not moving. You know that I could fall asleep on this sofa if I stayed still here for long enough?" I snuggled further into the sofa and completely relaxed.

"You'll still get backache in the morning trust me, I know from all the times that I've fallen asleep with a book on here." She yawned and then I did too. _**(A/N: Writing about yawning made me yawn, how weird is that?)**_

"Don't yawn, it's contagious!" I grinned.

"It's not catching; don't be silly, it just means that you're tired. You need to get back to the Common Room otherwise the homework you got today might feel forlorn." She teased.

"Nah, I think I might fall asleep here." I yawned again. She laughed.

"I'm not sure what your friends will think of that."

"I think that they'll think that I was off with some Ravenclaw when really I was asleep on your sofa. And then I'll laugh at them for thinking something so ridiculous." I sniggered.

"Why would they think that anyway? If I'm honest then my first guess would be that you fell asleep in the library while studying." I laughed, remembering the times that it had happened, Madam Pince always let me in the library late and after curfew because she knew that I would never harm any of her precious books.

"I always get awful back and neck-ache when that happens. They think that I'll be with some guy because they seem to think that I'm all day dreamy when I'm not in class." I rolled my eyes; the thought of me being day dreamy was ridiculous, I was sure that Minerva would agree.

"I think you have been a bit out of it lately, but I doubt day dreamy is the right term for it, maybe a little off. But day dreamy sounds like a girly schoolgirl in love." We both chuckled.

"I'm pretty sure that I'd never act like that."

"But are you admitting to being like that?" She teased, but she was looking for information, I could tell.

"Maybe, maybe not, maybe I'm not sure." I said as calmly as I could and shrugged.

"I think you are, you could just never do dreamy schoolgirl, ever." She smiled and poked my leg.

"You're right, dreamy schoolgirl would totally not fit me. Then I'd be like Lavender." We both shuddered.

"I could never put up with another Lavender; I might have to kill you." We both laughed.

"I might just tell Lavender that." I threatened.

"I have to put up with so many Gryffindor girls like that, how do they come over as brave? I mean, I'm sure Lavender would be a good Hufflepuff." She sighed.

"Well she is good at finding things." I laughed and Minerva just looked at me confused.

"Well, the Muggles seem to have found out about Harry, and this woman wrote a book series on his adventures and all that so people have put up these funny parodies and things. It's a musical with people dressed up as characters. And Cedric says that Hufflepuff's are good finders because everyone said that Hufflepuffs were pointless, and they wanted to know what they were."

"But that means that the Muggles know about us." Minerva looked alarmed.

"Nope, it's been written as a Fiction series for children. I just want to know how she knew about us."

"She'll be a Muggle Seer then, she saw them happen." Minerva said.

"Oh right. I suppose that I should go." It was 12 o'clock. "But I was serious about falling asleep on your sofa." I yawned again.

"I'm not going to be responsible for your backache. So go on, head up to your Dormitory. You're Head Girl so you won't get stopped, especially as Snape isn't floating about anymore." She shoved my feet out her lap, which I wasn't expecting so I ended up on the floor.

"Oww… I could get you sacked for assaulting a student." I grinned. "Why is it that even your carpet is comfy?" I asked, rubbing my face on it and yawning. She just laughed and shoved me lightly with her foot.

"Come on, although I think it's because you slept in a tent for a year." She said and grabbed my hand to tug me off the floor. I grinned evilly and pulled her down next to me and then got up, trying to ignore the urge to kiss her, she looked gorgeous, she was laughing and her cheeks were slightly flushed. I looked away quickly before she caught me staring and offered my hand to help her up.

"Don't you dare pull me back to the floor, we're even now!" We both laughed and she grabbed my hand and I pulled her back up, quickly stepping away so I didn't end up staring into her eyes like a lovesick fool. Then we both yawned again at the same time, both of us chuckled after.

"I guess I better go." I sighed.

"Yes you better." She smiled and poked me lightly in the side, I still jumped, it was my pressure point and like my weakness.

"No fair! You used my weakness against me!" I moaned and moved to the door.

"Of course I did." She grinned and followed me to the door.

"Goodnight Professor." I said and opened the door.

"Goodnight Hermione." She said in response and closed the door behind me. I grinned and pretty much skipped all the way back to my room, glad that I had one on my own so no one would notice me mooning around like a lovesick fool.

_**A/N: I hope that's okay, I'm really worried about Minerva being out of character, but I think I did okay, what do you guys think? Don't expect regular updates of this, I just suddenly felt like updating on it. To be honest I'm not updating regularly on anything I'm afraid. :/**_


	4. Chapter 4: Does Everyone Know?

Falling In Love. It's Not That Fun. Chapter 4: Does Everyone Know?

Hermione woke up and yawned, and the first thought on her mind was whether Minerva would be up yet. She grinned at the thought and then rolled her eyes, it was stupidly early but she had Transfiguration first and wanted to be as awake as possible for it. The bushy haired witch took out her diary and started to sketch another picture of Minerva, this one she was laying on the floor after she had pulled her down, mouth open, laughing and flyaway hairs strewn across the carpet. She leant over to her bedside cabinet and got out some watercolour pencils and started to colour the sketch in carefully, focusing on the inky black of her hair, the emerald green of her eyes and the rosy hue of her cheeks. She was so into the drawing that Ginny came into the room and had been looking at the drawing for quite a while, she didn't notice until the red-head sat down on the bed next to her and she felt the bed shift. She tried in vain to cover the drawing up but she already had the diary in her hands, reading through the various poems Hermione had written and the sketches she had drawn.

"You're an amazing drawer." She said eyes wide.

"I do try. Aren't you going to remark on the subject of all the drawings?" She was confused, surely she should be surprised of shocked, or something.

"You can tell. You gaze at her like she's majestic and amazing and all that matters to you. Harry's noticed too, but we weren't all that sure and this just proved what we thought. I always thought that you were into girls." She said with a grin.

"Ginny! This is private! You can't tell anyone at all, I'll kill you if you do, and you know that I can, even without using the Killing Curse, the fact that I did a self- defence course when I was younger helps too." She warned, she was shocked that she would violate my privacy like this.

"Don't worry. Can I at least tell Harry?" She begged with puppy dog eyes.

"I was about to tell you that you could tell Harry if you wanted to, seeing as he already suspects. I suppose I should tell Ron the reason we broke up." Hermione sighed, that was one conversation that she didn't want to have.

"Yes, I suppose. Although anyone with eyes would realise." Ginny rolled her eyes.

"Wait, if I was really being as obvious as you guys say does that mean that McGonagall's noticed?" She asked, pacing, and hoping that there hadn't been any sign of her knowing.

"Nope, I'm pretty sure she doesn't." She breathed a sigh of a relief.

"Hang on a second, when did you and Harry realise?"

"After playing 20 Questions. Older, green eyes and black hair, there's almost no one that fits that description, apart from our dear Transfiguration Professor." Hermione laughed at the way that she described her.

"Do you think she feels anything for me?" She asked, Ginny had obviously been paying attention to both of us.

"Oh yeah, simply by the fact that these sketches have her relaxed and opened up to you, there are a lot of them where she's laughing and this most recent one she's laying on the floor for god's sake! You didn't…?" Ginny's eyes widened.

"What? No! It's just that my feet where on her lap and then she pushed them off and I fell off the sofa and then she put out he hand to help me up and I pulled her down and then got up myself." Hermione explained quickly in a panic. Ginny's eyes were still wide.

"Your feet were in her lap?" She squealed.

"Err… Yeah?" Hermione was obviously very confused.

"That's amazing! You have made progress without even realising, the great Minerva McGonagall wouldn't let anyone put their feet in her lap." Ginny grinned and bounced on the bed. Hermione looked at her watch.

"Oh damn, I wanted to be early to Transfiguration." She collected up some clothes and ran out the room, preparing for the long day ahead.

Hermione still managed to be 15 minutes early for Transfiguration, and grinned when she saw that Minerva was already at her desk, marking some papers, obviously shocked at the incompetence of the person that had written the essay. She was scratching things out and slashing red ink across the hapless person's essay.

"What did the poor essay ever do to you?" Hermione asked in a teasing tone and sat on her desk, prying the quill and paper from her grasp and marking the rest of it herself, it may have been a fifth year's, but Hermione was well versed in the land of Transfiguration.

"Argh, it's a fifth year and yet they can't even use proper grammar and spelling, even of words that are in the text books!" Minerva exclaimed and rubbed her temples with the tips of her fingers.

"Don't worry." She checked the name, Dennis Creevy.

"Dennis isn't doing well in any of his lessons lately, after the death of his brother, they were almost as close as the Weasley Twins." Hermione explained.

"He's grieving, so now I feel bad because I didn't check the name first." She sighed.

"Don't worry, he's needs to know that if things are going badly for him then he should have not come back and waited a year, rather than coming back and stuffing up, his OWLS are at the end of the year, and he shouldn't have come back, considering how badly things are going for him."

"You're right." She sighed and dug through her pile until she found a neatly written essay which she took out the pile and smiled, settling down to read it.

"Whose is that?" Hermione asked and then read the name on top; Hermione Granger.

"Reading your extra-curricular work. It restores my faith in the human brain." She said with a chuckle.

"Oh, thanks." Hermione blushed.

"I save it for when I've just ploughed through loads of really awful one's, so usually after a mark a load of first years, or often after Crabbe and Goyle's, and some other choice Slytherin students." Hermione giggled quietly.

"But Crabbe died and Goyle got put in Azkaban." She pointed out.

"Even so, there are others like the Crabbe and Goyle you know, there are a lot of them actually. Just most of them aren't so obviously dumb." She laughed, and then the class filed in and she slipped off the desk, Ginny and Harry winking at her as she took her seat at the front, already poised to take notes, and rolling her eyes at the couple's antics.

At dinner Hermione was desperately trying to not look up at the Staff Table, but she could feel someone looking at her, but when she looked up and scanned the table, smiling at Minerva as she passed her and then settling on Dumbledore, who had been looking at her and winked, before returning to his Sheppard's pie. She mused on the oddness of this look and then zoned back in on the conversation Harry and Ginny were having, and promptly wished she hadn't, it was about Quidditch.

When Hermione got up and left the Great Hall after finishing her dinner she certainly hadn't been expecting Dumbledore to follow her. "Miss Granger, I was wondering if I could have a word with you. In my office." Hermione looked confused but she agreed anyway.

"Miss Granger, I understand that you have feelings for my esteemed colleague." Dumbledore cut right to the chase, peering at Hermione over his half-moon spectacles.

"Ermm…. Do you know this for certain?" She asked, trying not to give anything away.

"Of course I do, I am all knowing." He said, blue eyes twinkling madly.

"Oh for god's sake, you know, Ginny knows, Harry knows, who doesn't know?" She sighed, this was ridiculous.

"Well, I think all the staff have noticed, they keep on talking about it in between themselves, but never when Minerva's in earshot. I think that I couple of other Gryffindors have realised, and I'm certain that Miss Lovegood has." He said.

"Dammit, why do I have to be so transparent? Now everyone's going to know, and Minerva can't find out, she'll be shocked and won't want to talk to be anymore, I can't survive without having tea with her." She moaned.

"No, she won't ever realise, she's too busy trying to ignore her own feelings. She likes you so much, I think she might feel the same for you as you feel for her." Dumbledore said.

"No, no. No way. I'm just crushing on me teacher, there's nothing else to this!" Hermione exclaimed, trying not to feel like he might be telling the truth, just to have her feelings not returned.

"You two are both so blind, you won't believe what's right in front of your faces." He sighed, all happiness gone from his face. "You are going to tell her though?" He questioned.

"Of course, graduation. She can either stop me from getting on the train, or she can let me go and I never have to see her again." Hermione sighed, not happy about the idea but content to let it happen like that.

"Fine, so long as you tell her, where something nice, that might tempt her." He winked. "Anyway Miss Granger, I believe that you need to get back to Gryffindor Tower." Hermione smiled at him and let the room, trying to quash down the feelings of hope that were already swelling in her chest.

_**A/N: Is Dumbledore okay? I've never written him before so I wasn't sure if he was in character or not. :D**_


	5. Chapter 5: Halloween

**Falling In Love. It's Not That Fun. **

**Chapter 5: Halloween**

_**A/N: If you don't know who some of these people are, please just look them up, you should find results easily on Google. And I damn you use Google, Bing really sucks.**_

Dumbledore was stood at the podium at dinnertime two weeks before Halloween, ready to make an announcement.

"This year on Halloween we are to have a fancy dress masquerade ball. Fifth through to seventh years are to come in costumes of Muggle characters, from whatever source that you can find. Those who are not in fancy dress will be turned away at the door, even the teachers." A look of disgust came across Snape's face. The girls started to chatter amongst themselves and Dumbledore left the podium, his job done for tonight.

That weekend they were allowed to go to Hogsmeade so Harry, Ginny, Hermione, Lavender, Parvati, Dean, Luna, Neville and Ron all wrapped up warm and headed down to Hogsmeade together, Harry was going with Ginny, Lavender and Ron, Parvati and Dean, Luna and Neville and Hermione was going on her own, seeing as she couldn't exactly ask Minerva to go to the ball with her. The others were chattering excitedly as they walked down the long, winding road that led into the small wizarding village. Hermione sighed and just Apparated onto the villages main road. She was followed by a series of loud pops as the others followed her.

"Where are we going to go for costumes?" Ginny asked with a frown.

"There's a cosplay shop further into the village, we could go there."

"Cosplay?" Lavender asked.

"I'll explain later, but it's good for costumes." Hermione said and took them to the shop.

"Oh my god! I love these uniforms!" Lavender, Parvati and Ginny all exclaimed at once.

"They are nice." Luna said dreamily.

"Vampire Knight uniforms, good choice." Hermione approved.

"Hey, we could go in the white ones and the boys could go in the black." One of the girls said and the rest all approved, already finding their sizes.

"You guys are vampires in the white and the boys are humans in the black." Hermione said, but the girls didn't notice as they were already moving towards the tills, boys following.

Hermione was just passing a big stand of leather when Ginny all of a sudden came up behind her and pulled a leather outfit, in her size, from the rack.

"Come on, try it out! It'll look amazing with those knee high, lace all the way up the front, stiletto boots that I made you buy!" Hermione grimaced.

"Are you serious?"

"No, that's Harry's Godfather, but I do happen to think that you'll look awesome in it. Go! To the changing room with you!" Ginny said dramatically and started to push Hermione along, trying to get her to try it on.

"Fine, fine! I'll go!" She grabbed the leather suit and stomped off to the changing room.

When she came out the changing room everyone was collected up in a semi- circle, waiting for her to come out. Everyone gasped in surprise; no one knew she looked like that!

"What?" Hermione looked alarmed. "Is it too much?"

"No, it's perfect; we just weren't expecting you to have that figure." Ginny grinned and hugged her.

"But you're the one that made me try it on!" Hermione exclaimed.

"I suspected, I just wanted to see if I was right." She said triumphantly. Harry leant in and whispered in her ear;

"She'll faint at the sight of you." Hermione gave them all a blazing smile and then went back into the changing room and got out of the costume, before going to the desk and paying.

"So who are you anyway?" Parvati asked once they were outside.

"Selene, a vampire from the movie Underworld." Hermione said with a happy smile on her face.

"Boys are going to be falling at your feet!" Lavender exclaimed, and Hermione remembered that her and Parvati didn't know about her being gay.

"And girls." Ginny whispered in her ear.

"This idea is ridiculous Albus!" Minerva moaned as he dragged her into Hogsmeade on Friday night.

"You need a costume, otherwise I won't let you in." Albus said as he pulled her into the cosplay shop.

"I wasn't planning to go!" She hissed.

"You have to go, I need my staff there."

"Well, what on Earth am I going to go as?" She asked.

"Let's just look around." Dumbledore suggested. She sighed and consented. After a few minutes the white haired man called Minerva over.

"Look at this!" It was a pirate costume, white billowy shirt, brown waistcoat, brown trousers tucked into chunky black boots, full with patterned bandana and black leather belt. "Try it on." He urged, Minerva just sighed and took one.

"What do you think?" Minerva asked nervously as she came out of the changing room.

"If I wasn't gay then I'd jump you." Dumbledore twinkled at her with a wide mischievous grin.

"Ermmm… I'm going to let that comment slide." She said and went back into the changing cubicle. Once they were outside she asked;

"Who are you going as?"

"I've already got my costume, I plan to be Skulduggery Pleasant."

"Isn't he a skeleton?" Minerva asked confusedly.

"Yes he is, but I can always cast a glamour." Dumbledore shrugged. Minerva nodded and they headed towards the Three Broomsticks for a Butterbeer or two.

Hermione put her wand to her teeth and muttered a spell, making the canines long enough to make her lip jut out slightly weirdly and to make her look like a vampire. She put on heavy eyeliner, but not enough to make her look like a racoon, and cast a glamour to make her skin whiter and lips redder. Once she was done she left her private bathroom and met up with Ginny and all the others in the Head's Common Room. She saw a load of Ravenclaws over the other side of the room and waved at Terry Boot, the Head Boy. All the Gryffindors, and Luna, in their Vampire Knight uniforms followed Hermione out of the room.

Minerva put the last touches to her costume, buckling a blunt rapier in a scabbard onto her belt and putting her hair back in the bandana that had come with her costume. She left her room and joined a skeleton Dumbledore in her living room.

"Are we off?" He asked.

"Yes, come on." She sighed, hoping that Hermione didn't have a date.

"Don't worry, Miss Granger doesn't have a date." He grinned.

"I- I-" She stammered.

"I'm all knowing." He patted her arm and got going, a shocking Minerva in toe.

By the time they had got to the Great Hall, seven boys had abandoned their dates and asked Hermione to go to the ball with them. She declined everyone, although Cedric, dressed as Edward Cullen, sparklyness and all, was very eager and insistent to leave Cho, dressed as Bella Swan. She just waved them off and when they got to the Great Hall, even Draco Malfoy and Blaise Zabini were ogling at her. She just grinned and laughed; Draco was Jasper and Blaise was Emmett with Pansy as Alice and Daphne Greengrass as Rosalie. She searched the crowd to find Minerva and she saw her turn around to see what everyone was gazing at, and when she did, her eyes travelled up Hermione's body, before resting and getting lost in Hermione's eyes, Hermione equally lost in the vivid sea of green. Ginny had to nudge Hermione to get her to stop staring, who smiled at her weakly and then descended the stairs with the group.

"You do realise that you and McGonagall just stared at each other for like, a minute right?" Ginny whispered in Hermione's ear. Hermione's eyes widened in shock.

"Did anyone notice?" She panicked.

"Only the people in our group, but they won't tell, you know that Lavender and Parvati have grown up a lot recently."

"How did everyone else not notice?" Hermione whispered, disbelief colouring her voice.

"They were still staring at you." Ginny smirked.

"Oh, seriously?"

"Yep."

"But I don't look that good." Hermione frowned.

"Yes, you really do." Ginny laughed and steered her into the Hall.

"Go ask her to dance!" Ginny whispered, readjusting the mask that covered just around her eyes, everyone was wearing one similar ones, just some were different colours and shapes. Hermione sighed, looking over at the Minerva who was having a fierce conversation with Professor Dumbledore, both glancing at Hermione in the same moment before looking away quickly and going back to their discussion. "Go on, put her out of her misery. Dumbledore's very annoying when badgering you about something." Hermione sighed and stood up, putting a confident face on and walking over to where Minerva and Professor Dumbledore were sat.

"If I may intrude Professors, may I have this dance?"She held her hand out to Minerva and crossed the fingers of her other hand behind her back. Minerva took her hand and stood up wordlessly, shocked that Hermione had come over and asked her to dance, the very thing that her and Dumbledore had been talking about. Hermione guided her onto the floor and Minerva put her hand on Hermione's waist and gripped her hand in her own. Hermione quickly put her hand on Minerva's shoulder and they started to twirl around the room.

"Enjoy yourself?" Hermione asked with a big grin.

"I am now." Minerva couldn't stop the answer and the smile in return. Hermione raised an eyebrow and Minerva laughed at her expression.

"I like your costume. You look good." Hermione said before she could stop the words from slipping out. Minerva blushed.

"Thank you. I have to say that you look rather smashing yourself." Hermione laughed.

"If the boys falling at my feet are anything to judge by." She grinned and Minerva chuckled.

"Why is Dumbledore staring at us?" Hermione asked, confused.

"Because he is a dirty old man." They both started to laugh uncontrollably, stood in the middle of the room.

"Now you know you know, just as well as I do that Dumbledore is 100% gay." Hermione managed once she calmed down, wiping tears of mirth from the corner of her eyes. They resumed dancing on they'd calmed down.

"You do realise that you're friends are watching too?"

"Yes." Hermione sighed. "They've been watching me all evening. I think that they're worried about me, because I've not found 'the one' like they all seem to." She smiled weakly and levelled a glare at her friends as they twirled past. Minerva's heart dropped, wondering if Hermione had someone in mind and that's why she had sounded so forlorn.

"You'll find the right man eventually."

"I forgot you didn't know!" Hermione exclaimed randomly.

"Know what?" Minerva was very, very confused.

"Oh, right, well," Hermione leaned in as if to reveal a big secret. "I'm gay." Minerva's eyes widened and she felt a flicker of hope that she tried to quash down before it took hold.

"Really? Oh well, I'm glad that you're not going to be in the closet for all your life. I'll tell you a secret; I am too." Minerva grinned and Hermione grinned back, feeling like she had a bigger chance with the woman of her dreams now.

"I would high five you but we're dancing." Hermione laughed, and Minerva did too.

"Who are you supposed to be?" Minerva asked suddenly after a comfortable pause.

"Selene, from the movie Underworld." Hermione replied.

"I'd hate to be that actress, imagine having to put that suit on every day." Minerva said and Hermione laughed.

"Are you any particular character or just a pirate?"

"No, not really. Albus just thought that it would be a good idea for some unknown reason."

"Well, you look a little like Elizabeth Swan from Pirates of the Caribbean but not enough to actually be her. So I don't know, I never was much of a pirate movie fan."

"Well, I'll just stick with being a female pirate then." The song ended and the two split apart, albeit unwilling, and went over to the refreshments table. Hermione grabbed a bottle of Butterbeer and Minerva got a cup of punch.

"You do realise that that's been spiked at least four times already tonight?" Hermione chuckled.

"Of course. But I always drink some, just to see if the students will follow my example."

"But we're not supposed to drink on school grounds." Hermione frowned.

"You are correct. However, watching them drunk tonight, and listening them moan about hangovers is much more fun." They both laughed and surveyed the dance floor, noticing Luna dancing with an uncomfortable Snape, Neville having a dance with Professor Sprout and Ginny in the arms of Madam Hooch.

"We appear to have started a trend." Minerva noted dryly Hermione grinned and downed her Butterbeer.

"Care for another dance? I can't let anyone let anyone steal you away, now can I?" Hermione said daringly.

"I suppose you can't."

For pretty much the whole night they danced, and were some of the last ones to leave the Great Hall. When they got to Minerva's portrait Hermione smiled.

"Good night Professor."

"I think you've earned the right to call me Minerva in private." Minerva said with a smile.

"All right…. Good night Minerva." She tried again.

"Good night Hermione." And with that, Minerva entered her portrait and left a very dreamy Hermione to walk up to her dorm.

_**A/N: I wrote this in one night in my pad, but it took me forever to type it up, it's one of those things that I hate. I hope how long it is makes up for it, I think it's one of the longest chapters that I've ever written. :D**_


	6. Chapter 6: Christmas Morning

**Falling In Love. It's Not That Fun.**

**Chapter 6: Christmas Morning**

_**A/N: Woah, Christmas already! I know, I'm skipping loads of bits out but I can't help it, I just want to see what happens next! (Because I don't know anything more than you do.) **_

_**To be honest, I can't believe that I've got 5 chapters and over 9,000 words, all the chapters seem to be longer than my norm… But I have a feeling that the very long chapters might be coming to an end soon, as my well of inspiration is running dry.**_

_**Beware, that soon I shall be back at school, and with starting my GCSE's I think I'm going to be pretty busy for a while. So I shall stop waffling and move on, to a chapter that I dedicate to everyone who is still reading, and especially to those still reviewing. **_

_**Sorry guys, but I just couldn't kill off Hedwig.**_

Hermione yawned and tried to ignore the yelling of "HERMIONE!" coming from the bottom of the girls staircase, the boys wanted to open their presents with her, but she just did not want to get up, it was Christmas, so why couldn't she have a lie in? She sighed to herself and rose from her bed, pulling out her wand and casting a spell to tie her hair back in a loose ponytail before heading down to join the boys. They were the only students in the whole castle so their presents were under a tree in the Common Room, as opposed to the bottom of their beds. Hermione walked down the stairs slowly and the boys were twitching impatiently at the bottom. Hermione couldn't help but laugh at the odd expression on Ron's face, it looked almost like he was constipated and his left eye was twitching.

"Why did you wait for me? I mean, I love you guys for it, but Ron looks like he's in pain." Harry looked over at Ron and started to roar with laughter, and Hermione couldn't help but join in. When they stood up Ron was twitching over the presents.

"You can open them now Ron." Harry said calmly, and was back on the floor again laughing at the way that Ron dived in and opened everything like an excited puppy. Hermione and Harry followed more sedately, sitting down by their presents and carefully opening them. The first one that Hermione opened was a pale blue woolly jumper with a dark purple letter 'H' on the front.

"Ron, your Mum's really outdone herself this year." Hermione said, immediately stuffing the jumper over her head. It fit nicely, and wasn't lumpy at all.

"Yeah, with all the money we've got off the Ministry Mum bought some new knitting needles and more expensive thread, she says its helped loads." Hermione grinned and took a bite of the heavenly homemade treacle that was wrapped up with the jumper then moved onto her other presents. She got some interesting, and rare, ancient runes books from Harry, and a 10 Ways To Pick Up Witches book from Ron.

"Ron!" She exclaimed in horror and then him with afore mentioned book.

"What? You are trying to Pick Up A Witch, so I thought it was a good book choice." Hermione just rolled her eyes and put it down. She got makeup and flashy clothes from Lavender and Parvati, which she couldn't help but laugh at, Harry joining in. Ron just looked mystified. She had another present that had a card attached to the top. She picked it up and read the card.

_Dear Hermione,_

_Merry Christmas, I hope you have the best day that you could wish for, and that Potter and Weasley do not cause too much trouble._

_Love, Minerva_

_P.S. Would you like to come to my quarters at four o'clock for tea?_

Hermione grinned wide and turned to Harry.

"Could I borrow Hedwig please?" Harry nodded and Hermione grinned when he whistled and Hedwig glided down from up in the boys dormitory. She grabbed a piece of parchment and a Muggle pen.

_Dear Minerva,_

_I would love to join at four. Have a great day._

_Love Hermione_

Then she attached it to Hedwig's leg and watched her glide off.

"Who was that?" Harry asked.

"Minerva. She got me a present, and asked if I could join her in her quarters at four for tea." Hermione beamed.

"What did she get you?" Ron asked.

"I don't know, I haven't opened it yet!" She suddenly realised and ripped into the emerald green paper.

"That's odd, you've got Slytherin paper." Harry noted.

"It's not Slytherin, it's the same colour of her eyes." She reminded him as she carefully opened a box, gasping when she saw what was inside. It was a beautiful bracelet that was silver and had charms all along the length; a book, a tiny cat, a quill, and many others, some of which were moving.

"It's beautiful." She breathed, immediately putting it on. Ron was eating some treacle and dropped it when he saw her bracelet.

"That's amazing. I don't pretend to know much about jewellery but that must have been extremely expensive, not many can make them move, and those jewellery makers that do charge very high for their pieces." Ron said, moving closer to look at it. Hermione grinned.

"Happy Christmas Minerva my dear!" A very cheerful looking Albus Dumbledore exclaimed and started to jump on her bed like a small child on their first Christmas.

"Why do you have to get me up so early? It's Christmas, surely that's an excuse to have a lie in?" Minerva moaned into her pillow, pulling her cover up over her head as she turned over. Dumbledore straight away pulled it down and Minerva groaned.

"Why Minerva, I could never open my presents without you, so I must wake you up, as I want to open them now." Dumbledore tugged on her hand and pulled her out of bed, landing her on the floor.

"Albus!" She stormed and jumped up, grabbing him around the neck and wrestling him onto the bed before tickling him until he was almost crying. "Do you beg for mercy?" She questioned, eyes narrowed.

"Never!" He exclaimed so she resumed tickling him until there was a knock on the door. Minerva looked at Dumbledore as she shrugged on her dressing gown. He just shrugged so she went and opened the door, getting hugged by numerous people as she did.

"Merry Christmas Minerva!" Rolanda and Poppy exclaimed as they hugged her and then bustled into the room, their stacks of presents floating behind them.

"You lot all planned this didn't you?" She questioned, mock angry.

"Yeah." Rolanda crowed triumphantly. Then Albus emerged from the bedroom looking very ruffled. "We didn't think she'd rape you." Rolanda said, sounding apologetic. Minerva gasped and both Poppy and Albus started to laugh, Poppy rolling on to the floor and Albus leaning on the door frame. Then Minerva joined in, mostly at the fact that Albus was now wheezing and Poppy was whinging about her knee hurting.

"You, Rolanda Hooch, are simply ridiculous." Minerva managed. The others just nodded in agreement and everyone set about opening presents. Minerva left one of them for last, the one whose packaging she didn't recognise and had a card stuck to the top. She pulled off the card and read it, a grin spreading across her face as she did.

_Dear Minerva,_

_Merry Christmas! I hope you're having a great day, although with Professor Dumbledore there I would be more surprised if you didn't, I wonder if he'll dress up as Father Christmas this year. I hope he hasn't got you up too early, although the boys will have me up before eight o'clock I'm sure. _

_Love, Hermione._

The other's all turned to look at her, Dumbledore staging whispering to the others;

"I bet it from _her_." They all knew who he meant immediately, he had informed them of the situation with Miss Granger as soon as he was aware of it.

"I don't know what you mean Albus." Minerva said, the grin not leaving her face.

"Oh, I think you do Minerva." Rolanda countered.

"Who do you think it is then?"

"Miss Granger of course!" Poppy cut in.

"How did you know?" Minerva looked confused.

"Only she could make you smile like that." Albus said.

"So what did she get you?"

"I don't know, I have yet to open it." Minerva replied. The others just rolled their eyes as she cautiously opened it.

"We could look away you know, in case it's something you don't want us to see." Rolanda said, Minerva just looked up, bemused. "Well, you know, it could be something not for work use." Minerva's eyes widened as she realised what Rolanda meant, there was no way that it would ever be anything dirty!

"You're obscene!" She announced and quickly opened it, not wanting any other mad ideas to get into her head. There was a box inside which she took the lid off of and smiled when she saw a pair of gloves inside, hers had recently fell apart, and she announced that it was time to get a new pair. Hermione of course had noticed that she hadn't been wearing any recently, and that she must have discarded or lost her old pair. They were beautiful dark emerald green leather with black stitching, and she knew straight away that they had warming and water repulsion charms on them. Rolanda and Poppy oohed and aahed over the gloves, they were obviously expertly made, and only Hermione would have got her something so thoughtful.

"They're amazing gloves." Albus smiled.

_**Tea's soon, I just wanted to get this out, it's a pretty long chapter you know! :D**_


	7. Chapter 7: Christmas Afternoon

**Falling In Love. It's Not That Fun.**

**Chapter 7: Christmas Afternoon**

_**A/N: This chapter was written about a year and a half ago, with some added on the end about six months ago, but I decided to post it as is. **_

Minerva thought that she might exponentially combust when Hermione came and sat down next to her. The remaining staff, Vector had gone home, the three Gryffindors, seven Ravenclaws and eight Hufflepuffs were all sat around the normal round table. It was rather squishy, but no one appeared to mind, even when Hermione had to take the last seat next to her. She could have sworn that Albus gave her an evil smirk, which she returned with a quick glare. She saw the way that Rolanda and Poppy were talking behind their hands quietly to each other, every now and then glancing at Hermione and Minerva, she almost strangled them. Then she noticed that Harry and Ron had identical idiotic grins on their faces, and she had a feeling that this had been cleverly set up by her friends, although she had no idea why Ron and Harry appeared to be in on it. Hermione grabbed the seat and sat down, shooting an unnoticed glare at her friends as she did so.

"Merry Christmas Professor." She said quietly.

"Merry Christmas to you too Hermione." The kids on the table looked a little confused at Minerva calling Hermione by her first name, but everyone knew that Hermione was her favourite, however much she tried not to show it. Albus smiled broadly.

"Now that we are all seated everyone take a cracker!" Albus crossed his arms, holding one out to each of the people on either side of him. Slowly everyone began to take the crackers and then he called; "3… 2… 1… PULL!" Everyone pulled on the crackers and there was a mix of bangs and crashes as they all went off and Ron fell off his chair.

"Ron, what are you doing down there?" Hermione asked with a grin as she bent down to help him up. He just blushed and stammered. "I didn't quite catch that."

"Harry pushed me." He declared, sticking his chin out.

"Sure I did, let's just say that rather than say that you have no hand eye coordination." Harry and Hermione laughed as Ron sat back in his seat.

"I was startled okay?"

"Look, you should be used to them, I'm a Muggle and I don't fall out my chair every time." Hermione grinned.

"Yeah, but I just wasn't paying attention."

"No, you were too busy staring at Eloise Midgen now that her nose is on centre." Hermione smirked and started dishing up food for herself.

"Shut up." He murmured. Eloise looked at him and blushed before turning back to her dinner. Hermione and Harry just looked at each other before bursting out laughing, which just made Ron blush harder. Hermione started to eat, trying to not brush her elbow against Minerva's, was it just her or had Harry moved in closer on her side and Hooch on Minerva's? Hermione was trying so hard not to brush arms that it was difficult to cut up her turkey. Harry gave her a knowing smirk and she glared at him. Minerva was having a similar problem. She had noticed Hooch and Potter move in, and she was glaring at them both, until she realised that they weren't going to move. She sighed and resolved to eat as quickly as possible, without banging elbows with Hermione. She was going through so much conscious effort to do this that she didn't notice that Hermione was doing the same. They managed to digest a reasonable amount before giving up and leaning back in their chairs, waiting for the others to finish. Once everyone else was done dessert arrived and Hermione just couldn't resist, Christmas pudding was her absolute favourite, and she could wield her fork in her left hand and not bash elbows with Minerva. Apparently Minerva had the same idea because they both dug into their Christmas pudding with one hand, making Hermione think that maybe, just maybe, Minerva had been struggling not to bash elbows with her the same as she had. At the same time Minerva was thinking the same thoughts, maybe Hermione was as worried about bashing elbows too… Their thoughts tangled around the idea for quite a while and they tried not to look at each other. At the end of lunch both Hermione and Minerva stood up at the same time, as soon as it was polite to vacate the table.

"I've got marking to do." Was Minerva's excuse.

"I need to study." Hermione said and they both set off. Minerva smiled at Hermione as they went up the stairs in the Entrance Hall.

"Studying, on Christmas?" She asked incredulously.

"Marking, on Christmas?" Hermione replied in exactly the same tone of voice with a smirk.

"You've got me there. I'm not going to explain why I have to mark today."

"Well then I'm not going to explain why I have to do homework today." Hermione grinned and they continued up all the way to Minerva's portrait in silence, but it was completely comfortable.

"I'll see you at four right?" Hermione asked with a grin.

"Yes, see you in a couple of hours." Minerva said and went into her office; Hermione was already heading up to Gryffindor Tower.

**HGMMHGMMHGMMHGMMHGMMHGMM**

Hermione sighed, staring into her wardrobe and trying to work out what to wear, it should be something casual, but nice looking, Hermione wanted to entice Minerva, although trying to seduce your Transfiguration Professor isn't something that one should be trying to do. And although Hermione didn't know it, she was currently succeeding.

**HGMMHGMMHGMMHGMMHGMMHGMM**

She knocked on Minerva's door at exactly four and Minerva grinned when she opened it, trying not to stare at what Hermione was wearing, and Hermione was having exactly the same problem. Both were looking particularly good that afternoon; Hermione in a just above knee-length red dress with small straps and a tight bodice, and Minerva was wearing flattering robes with a deeper neckline and tighter waist than usual. Once Minerva had recovered a little bit she quickly moved out of the way and gestured Hermione inside.

"Come in, make yourself comfortable." She said with a smile, unable to stop her eyes following Hermione's behind as she walked into the cosy room.


End file.
